The need for humanities in an AI-dominated future

Posted on Nov 11, 2022 in AI, Environment, Outreach, Science

I was delighted to return to Imperial’s Centre for Languages, Culture and Communication in early Nov to deliver the 2022 Char Brinson honorary lecture on my view regarding the future of AI and the place of humans (and humanities) in it. Here’s a short summary of the main points I raised. When we hear the […]

The Future of Life on Earth

The Future of Life on Earth

My final lecture as Visiting Professor of Cosmology at Gresham college looks at the threats to life on Earth,  with a reflection straddling cosmology, astrophysics, history and environmental issues. I argue that what we need to worry about are not the dangers that are out there, but the ones that are in here – inside […]

The Love Makers

The Love Makers

How artificial intelligence and robotics are transforming the future of love and desire: a philosophical thriller and essays. I’m thrilled that this wonderful book by Aifric Campbell, including fiction and non-fiction writing, has been published by MIT press. A chance encounter between two women and a road trip into the future: It’s Christmas Eve, and […]

The Broken Cosmic Distance Ladder

Posted on Mar 7, 2022 in Gresham College, Outreach, Public lecture, universe

When Albert Einstein tweaked his newl Measuring distances to astronomical objects outside our Galaxy is a surprisingly hard challenge: it wasn’t until 1923 that Edwin Hubble obtained proof that Andromeda is indeed a galaxy in its own right. Today, astronomers extend distance measurements in the cosmos to the edge of the visible Universe, building up […]

The Edge of the Sky | Oir Nan Speur

Posted on Feb 2, 2022 in Art and Science, News, Outreach, The Edge of The Sky

The Edge of the Sky | Oir Nan Speur is a beautiful new ‘analogue theatre show’ in which two astronomers try to unravel a story from the past following a cataclysmic event. It will premiere on February 18th, 2022 at the Hebridean Dark Skies festival, on the Isle of Lewis. Performed in English and Gaelic, it is a uniquely […]

Einstein’s Blunder

Posted on Jan 3, 2022 in Gresham College, Outreach, Public lecture, Science, Teaching
Einstein’s Blunder

A lecture given as Visiting Professor of Cosmology at Gresham College, part of the series “The Frontiers of Knowledge” When Albert Einstein tweaked his newly invented equations of General Relativity in 1917, he had one goal in mind: to find a solution that described a closed, static, eternal universe. He therefore minted a new universal […]

Can UFOs visit us?

Posted on Aug 27, 2021 in Outreach, universe

A few years back, I helped Dallas Campbell in his BBC Sky at Night investigation, trying to find out whether UFOs could be alien visitors… See the clip by clicking on the link below. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02jj121/player

LIBRA: a multi-media theatre play on mega-constellations

Posted on Jul 22, 2021 in Art and Science, News, Outreach
LIBRA: a multi-media theatre play on mega-constellations

It’s 2042: a global corporation has plastered the night sky with internet satellites. Virgil, a middle manager in the company, stumbles on a mysterious pattern hidden in the ads the company runs: could this be linked with the pandemic of compulsive shopping that has struck his own wife? And can a teenage girl with special […]

The impact of Machine Learning in Cosmology

Posted on Jun 20, 2021 in AI, Machine Learning, Research, Science

An online debate hosted by the Machine Learning Club, with co-panelists Bhuvnesh Jain, Uros Seljak and Hiranya Peiris, held on Apr 28th 2021.